I found an interesting pamphlet in a file cabinet drawer at the Museum. It’s dated 1967 and is devoted to the town of Rochester. Among other information, it states that Rochester’s industries over the years included mills and that at one time lumber mills were Rochester’s chief industry. There were lumber mills of all types -box, shingle, longboard- and the three principal mills were the Church, Rounseville and Hartley sawmills. In the early 20th century, the supply of softwood, coniferous trees in the region fueled the boom in the business.
In 1888, James Hartley who immigrated to the United States from England purchased the mill site on what was then Rochester Avenue. This site had hosted other water-driven industries. The business was so successful that at one time the operation owned 2,400 acres of woodlots, was the town’s largest employer and the road that ran in front of it was renamed Hartley Rd.
Now, back to the pamphlet. It tells the history of the days when logging was a profitable concern. Gangs of woodcutters would move into Haskell Swamp. They would create their own camps with cabins for housing. Within the camp, they would have teams of horses or oxen to drag trees they felled to an area where the cedar and pines were stacked. The wood would be collected all winter and then when the logging trails became passable, trucks would drive into Haskell’s. The loads of logs along with those from other woodlots would be driven to a sawmill and the logs would be fed directly into the mill or dumped into the mill’s pond for summer storage.
Logging gradually became a less lucrative business. Box mills lost out to cardboard and plastic. The Hurricane of 1944 brought down close to 90% of the largest pines in Rochester’s woods. Once you factored in the demands for higher wages, rises in costs and competition from lumber coming from both the west and south, running a large mill was unprofitable and by the 1960’s all the large mills were gone.
The current exhibit “The Tools and Industries That Made Rochester” at the Rochester Historical Society Museum at 355 County Rd., Rochester, has an interesting collection of sawmill tools and memorabilia. The Museum will be open both Sunday, Nov.23 and 30th from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm. After that you can visit by appointment by calling 617-750-818.
By Connie Eshbach
